Photo: Steve OgleKootenay Rockies, BC

Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (BC Only)

A ride described at Adventure Cycling Association

How we describe routes →

Challenging Demanding on several fronts at once, or a lot of riding on busy roads.

Difficulty Our overall read of how demanding a route is. We score surface roughness, climbing, singletrack, and how far it runs from services. The route publisher's own rating, a lot of busy road riding, or sheer scale can push the tier up, never down.

Derived from OpenStreetMap. Good data, not perfect. Spot something wrong? Tell us.

How we describe routes →

The British Columbia section of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route, the famous off-pavement ride tracing the Continental Divide from Canada to Mexico. The BC leg crosses the Flathead Valley, one of the wildest corners of the Canadian Rockies, mostly on gravel and dirt roads far from traffic. About 307 km with around 3,100 m of climbing and long gaps between services, so treat it as a self-sufficient backcountry ride.

Get the route on Adventure Cycling Association →

Where this ride goes#

Approximate lineGet the real route ↗

Map key & layers

Show stops Mute other bike trails

Food & DrinkAttractionsSuppliesCampingAccommodation

Riding near fast trafficFastest stretches

Dashed line = our rough sketch of where the ride goes. The rideable route lives at get the route from Adventure Cycling Association.

Fast-road stretches#

We believe these are the fast, unprotected roads on this route. We can tell you which roads and roughly how far, but not the order you will ride them. If you see an error, tell us and we'll fix it.

about 19 km of Corbin Road · near Crowsnest
about 10 km of Crowsnest Highway · near Natal
about 9 km of Fording Highway · near Greenhills
about 8 km of Elk Valley Highway · near Line Creek
about 4 km of Elko-Roosville Highway · near Roosville
about 1 km of Line Creek Mine Road · near Line Creek

☕Stops worth stopping for24 along this route

Sparwood Visitor Centre: Visitor centre beside the Terex Titan, one of the world's largest trucks, on Highway 3. · Sparwood

Communities along this route#

Sparwood 7 Elkford 6 Fording 6 Flathead 4 Round Prairie 1

Sparwood (7)

Sparwood Visitor CentreInfo· Visitor Centre · Free

Sparwood Public LibraryInfo· Library

EssoInfo· Convenience Store

HuskyInfo· Convenience Store

Plus the fast-food chains — A&W, Subway, Tim Hortons

Elkford (6)

Elkford Aquatic CentreInfo· Community Centre · $

Elkford Municipal CampgroundInfo· Public Campground

Elkford Public LibraryInfo· Library · Free

Kootenay MarketInfo· Grocery Store

BC Liquor StoreInfo· Liquor Store

Elkford Motor InnInfo· Hotel / Motel · $$ · Budget

Fording (6)

Elk Lakes CabinInfo· Resort · $ · Rock-bottom

Blue Lake Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Tobermory Creek Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Upper Elk River Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Upper Elk River Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Riverside Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Flathead (4)

Butts CabinInfo· Public Campground

Butts Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Pollock Creek Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Ram/Cabin Pass Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Round Prairie (1)

Krivensky Farm Recreation SiteInfo· Public Campground

Slice and dice these stops in the directory →

These stops come from our directory of welcoming places across BC. Spot something wrong, missing, or closed? Tell us and we'll fix it.

⛴Getting here, bike and allSparwood

Getting to this ride, bike and all#

Sparwood is the handiest transit doorway for this ride. Buses, ferries, trains, and the SkyTrain will carry you and your bike there:

Ferniebest: bus
Vancouverbest: bus
Victoriabest: ferry + train + bus
Nanaimobest: ferry + SkyTrain + bus

Or pick any two places on To & Fro →

🪶Traditional territories

The BC portion of this route travels through the traditional territories of the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Ĩyãħé Nakón mąkóce (Stoney), Ktunaxa ɁamakɁis, Michif Piyii (Métis), Niitsítpiis-stahkoii ᖹᐟᒧᐧᐨᑯᐧ ᓴᐦᖾᐟ (Blackfoot / Niitsítapi ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ), and Tsuut’ina.

Territory data from Native Land Digital, for educational purposes only.

Ready to ride it?

Get the route on Adventure Cycling Association →Got the GPX? Add BC Bike Stops to it →